I am old. Well, I’m older. Than I was two days ago. Not a whole lot to report on the birthday front. It’s always interesting to see who remembers to call/write and who doesn’t. Seems harder and harder to keep track of people as time goes on. I realized this was the first time I’ve spent my birthday with only one person. It was pretty weird, no work, no party. Talked to my parents a bit, then walked my butt all the way downtown to figure out why the package they shipped me was MIA. The nice but totally unhelpful man at the post office basically told me “we don’t have it here and I don’t know where it is.” (I have since found out where my box is, but that is another story.) It’s turned quite chilly again and I got home, nose running, legs tingling, just in time for Ben to suggest that we go out for dinner. So we walked our butts back downtown again. (Hey, if I can say one thing about my birthday it’s that I got some exercise!) I can count the number of times I’ve eaten out in Brighton on one finger (no, that’s not a typo) so this was kind of a big deal. we didn’t really have a plan but we figured we’d check out the noodle house located over the ridiculously expensive Asian market previously maligned in this post. But it was closed. We wandered around a while. A lot of restaurants in Brighton are closed on Monday. Most of the ones that were open were less than appealing. I have to admit that I am really really bad at this game. I see a place that looks mildly interesting, scan the menu, decide that it’s boring or too expensive, walk to the next, repeat. Repeat. Repeat. I usually end up picking some place that turns out to be less than memorable and spend the rest of the night wondering if one of the places I passed up would have been better. Fortunately, this time we stumbled into Pompoko. I can’t say much for their decorating but the food was good, and CHEAP. Even by America standards, it was a deal. Practically saved the day. Came home, watched Coraline, which we both hated. Read my book. Went to bed. Party girl, eh?